Hero To Animals

It's apparently Animal Action Week for the IFAW, which leads me to think...what makes that different than every other week for them?

Apparently one specific thing is that they ask for nomination for an Animal Hero. I received one of their newsletters earlier today, and they explain...

Animals do amazing things for us every day, from saving our lives to saving our sanity. There are also special people out there who return that kindness and who go the extra mile to help animals. The International Fund for Animal Welfare is looking for those people so that we can recognize their good work with an Animal Action Award.

Perhaps you know someone who cares for abandoned animals, or who campaigns tirelessly for animal welfare legislation. Maybe you know of an organization that donates time and money to an animal-related cause or an individual who brings animals and people together.

We want to recognize the work of these exceptional people and organizations, and would like you to tell us why they should receive this prestigious award.

Well, I don't "know" him, but I've seen some of his work and I thought I'd nominate the gentleman that we visited two weekends ago, Mr Andy Parent, owner of the Big Sky Ranch Animal Sanctuary.



We came away impressed with his setup when we visited and it's obvious a great deal of effort goes into the operation. The newspaper article about him stated "About 350 animals have passed through here since 2002, more than 200 of which have been adopted and found new homes". Plus the dude had live wrestling there. Hard to top that.

The e-mail also mentioned past winners, which I found interesting:

· Guy Fitzgerald is a veterinarian dedicated to improving the care of raptors in Quebec. He is the founder of the Raptor Centre at the University of Montreal and the UQROP, a non-profit organization that rehabilitates and releases raptors.

· Eleven-year-old Celina Dawdy raised almost $10,000 to purchase protective vests for RCMP dogs in Alberta.

· Andrea Lemphers is one of the founders of the Humane Society Yukon and helped to open the territory’s first shelter. She also worked for amendments to the Yukon Animal Protection Act in 1998.

Good luck to Mr Parent! And if you know someone you'd like to nominate, you can do so by e-mail at this address.